Evaluation of Korowai Whaimana

Summary Report

Like Minds Like Mine Programme

Ministry of Health

Human Rights Commission

Gareth Edwards

Positive Thinking Limited

July 2007

The evaluation would like to acknowledge the people who shared their stories and experiences of human rights and human wrongs with honesty, sincerity and astonishing good humour.

The evaluation acknowledges the involvement of the Korowai Whaimana trainers who continue to pursue this human rights path with commitment and passion. In particular the evaluation acknowledges the essential role played by the following trainers and Kawhina in facilitating involvement from workshop participants:

Gaylene ShannonSue Purdie

Justin PollockIsabella Miller-Bell

The evaluation would also like to acknowledge the continued support for this evaluation from current and former staff at the Like Minds Like Mine Programme and the Human Rights Commission, particularly:

Gerard Vaughan Shae Ronald

Darryl BishopBruce Coleman

Zheela Vokes

The evaluation of Korowai Whaimana was funded by the Like Minds Like Mine Programme, Ministry of Health.

From Korowai Whaimana workshop participants:

“We often hear bad stories and you think ‘there’s got to be some sort of help for them’, but there isn’t and this Korowai Whaimana is great – we can do more, bring people together so they can hear their rights and look at what we can do”

I was recently admitted to mental health inpatient unit and was “disgusted” by the behaviour of the nurses and the doctors – “we were treated like animals!” – So I wrote a letter about patient rights based on what I’d learnt at the workshop. The main psychiatrists asked to speak to me and together we decided to put up notices in the unit about patient rights. I handwrote these notices about peoples’ rights and what they could do about them (based on a ‘Useful Contacts Sheet’ developed by a Korowai Whaimana trainer). I put these notices where everyone could see them. I saw a big change in staff attitude and I even think it helped to get a couple of people off the unit.

After the workshop a group of us came together to take action about the removal of Disability Allowance for people in Supported Accommodation. We did some research and networking and fed it through an NGO service provider. We got a result, though there’s still problems with it, but it was the combined effort that was effective – “we had our own voice”.

This is a summary report of the evaluation of Korowai Whaimana – a human rights training programme by and for people with experience of mental illness.

A full copy of the report is available from

Human Rights Commission

Phone Eileen Burton, 09 309 0874;

Email:

Like Minds Like Mine

Mental Health Foundation

This report gives a summary of:

  1. The background to the Korowai Whaimana programme
  2. How the evaluation was carried out
  3. What the evaluation found
  4. What the evaluation findings suggest for the future

The Korowai Whaimana programme is based on a partnership that began at the end of 2001 between:

  • The Like Minds Like Mine programme (Like Minds, Ministry of Health)
  • The Human Rights Commission (HRC)
  • People with experience of mental illness

The original aim of the programme was:

“to enable people who experience mental illness to understand the Human Rights Act 1993 so they can use this understanding to improve their access to employment, education, goods and services, accommodation, public places and facilities and government and state sector activities.

Through these means, people with experience of mental illness will increase their opportunities to gain equity with other members of society.”[1]

From the mid-2004 to mid-2005 over 30 people with experience of mental illness graduated from the Korowai Whaimana train-the-trainer programme.

From the end of 2004 to the beginning of 2007, over 600 people with experience of mental illness have attended over 70 Korowai Whaimana workshops and presentations.

For more details on Korowai Whaimana, including workshops and presentations, please contact

Human Rights Commission

Phone: Eileen Burton, 09 309 0874

Email:

The evaluation had four main parts:

1.Literature Review

  • To identify other programmes similar to Korowai Whaimana
  • Carried out by a search and review of published and non-published literature

2.What has been the effect of Korowai Whaimana?

  • To identify the impact of the Korowai Whaimana programme
  • Carried out by
  • Looking at what workshop participants thought of the workshop
  • Looking at what action workshop participants took after the workshop
  • Looking at the complaints and enquiries made to the HRC

3.What has the Korowai Whaimana journey been like?

  • To identify the progress Korowai Whaimana programme has made
  • Carried out by
  • Talking with current and former Korowai Whaimana trainers
  • Talking with the people involved in the development and management of Korowai Whaimana

4.What does the future look like for Korowai Whaimana?

  • To help planning for the next step of the Korowai Whaimana journey
  • Carried out by
  • Talking with people involved in Korowai Whaimana (trainers, developers, managers)
  • Talking with people who are working in the area of mental health and human rights but not directly involved with Korowai Whaimana

A significant part of the evaluation involved talking with people who had been involved in Korowai Whaimana or people who work in the area of mental health and human rights.

A total of sixty eight people participated in interviews, focus groups and surveys for this evaluation.

The evaluation was carried out between January – May 2007.

The evaluation found a mixture of different people’s points of view about the Korowai Whaimana programme.

The summary is set out under the four parts of the evaluation from the above section. More details about the evaluation findings are available in the main evaluation report.

1.Literature Review

  • The literature review found one human rights programme that had comparisons with Korowai Whaimana. This was the HRC ‘Tu Tikanga’ programme to address human rights issues for people with disabilities.
  • Much of the published literature talks about the difficulties in making human rights laws a reality for people with experience of mental illness. The recent United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was seen as important for work in mental health and human rights, but it was noted that international law has so far failed to achieve ‘real change’.
  • The non-published literature found several programmes that could have links with Korowai Whaimana within the Human Rights Education sector, the Disability Rights sector and specific Mental Health Rights programmes.

2.What has been the effect of Korowai Whaimana?

What the workshop participants thought of the workshop and what action they took

  • People who went to workshops reported feeling better educated on human rights and also feeling more personally empowered to address human rights issues.
  • The action people took after the workshops included direct personal action, use of human rights information, collective action, and formal complaints.
  • Participants shared stories of how they’d taken action, for example:
  • I was recently admitted to mental health inpatient unit and was “disgusted” by the behaviour of the nurses and the doctors – “we were treated like animals!” – So I wrote a letter about patient rights based on what I’d learnt at the workshop. The main psychiatrists asked to speak to me and together we decided to put up notices in the unit about patient rights. I handwrote these notices about peoples’ rights and what they could do about them (based on a ‘Useful Contacts Sheet’ developed by a Korowai Whaimana trainer). I put these notices where everyone could see them. I saw a big change in staff attitude and I even think it helped to get a couple of people off the unit.
  • After the workshop a group of us came together to take action about the removal of Disability Allowance for people in Supported Accommodation. We did some research and networking and fed it through an NGO service provider. We got a result, though there’s still problems with it, but it was the combined effort that was effective – “we had our own voice”.
  • In most cases where people took action they used the Korowai Whaimana information and in some cases were supported by Korowai Whaimana trainers.
  • People with experience of mental illness who held professional roles in the mental health sector had also used the Korowai Whaimana information to support other people with experience of mental illness.

Complaints and Enquires to the HRC

  • The number of complaints and enquiries to the HRC has increased whilst Korowai Whaimana has been operating from 74 in 2005 to 192 in 2006. It is not possible to say if this increase is because of Korowai Whaimana, as the way HRC record complaints and enquires has changed during this period and the reasons why people contact the HRC are not recorded.

3.What has the Korowai Whaimana journey been like?

  • There were questions raised about the appropriateness of the Korowai Whaimana train-the-trainer model for addressing human rights issues for people with experience of mental illness.
  • The way in which the Korowai Whaimana programme was implemented has been seen as insufficient, particular in the initial stages. Improvements have been recognised in this area though significant issues remain unresolved.
  • The Korowai Whaimana workshops were well received and the skills of the trainers were widely recognised.

4.What does the future look like for Korowai Whaimana?

  • People not connected to Korowai Whaimana did not know many details about the programme.
  • The focus on education in Korowai Whaimana was questioned by people not connected to the programme and a range of other approaches were discussed. These included:
  • individual and systemic advocacy
  • formal monitoring and investigations of human rights issues for people with experience of mental illness
  • building coalitions within the mental health sector and across the disability sector
  • “bundling” of all rights based information and services to enhance individual accessibility
  • Approaches that could also build on the Korowai Whaimana programme include:
  • Exploring the range of human rights approaches, particularly the ‘community development’ approach
  • Build on the partnership between HRC and Like Minds
  • Build on the systemic work through other government agencies
  • The three priority areas for addressing human rights issues for people with experience of mental illness across all evaluation participants were:
  • mental health system
  • employment
  • housing

The findings from the evaluation suggest that there is a need to:

  • Develop the strategic plan for Korowai Whaimana in the future, including exploring approaches that can build on the progress of Korowai Whaimana
  • Develop how the Korowai Whaimana programme is operated to build on the strengths of the programme and address areas that need more attention.
  • Review the way complaints and enquiries from people with experience of mental illness are handled by the HRC.
  • Build on the partnership between HRC and Like Minds to work with other government agencies to address human rights issues for people with experience of mental illness.

More information is available on the Korowai Whaimana programme and the evaluation at:

Full Report /

Workshops and Presentations / Human Rights Commission

Eileen Burton
Email:
HRC and LikeMinds Partnership / Human Rights Commission
Shae Ronald
Email:
Human Rights / Human Rights Commission
Infoline 0800 496 877
Email:
Evaluation / Human Rights Commission
Eileen Burton
Email:
Positive Thinking
Gareth Edwards
Email:

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[1] HRC, Korowai Whaimana Participant’s Manual, 2004, p12